Leg structure for brazier



1961 G. c. TERRY 3,005,611

LEG STRUCTURE FOR BRAZIER Filed June 3, 1959 IN VENTOR. GEORGE c. TERRYATTORNEY i United States Patent York a Filed June 3, 1959, Ser. No.817,815

2 Claims. (Cl. 248-129) This invention relates to leg structures andrelates more particularly to an improved torsionally stable legarrangement for portable charcoal grills of the brazier type whichincludes a bowl-shaped fire box with a grid above the fire boxadjustable as to height.

In order to give the charcoal broiler a sufiiciently strong supportingleg structure, it has been the practice to provide two inverted,generally U-shaped tubular devices secured by bolts to the lower face ofthe grill which provide four legs, two of which generally have a shaftextending between them and two rubber-tired wheels are positioned on theshaft.

The two inverted U-shaped leg structures are separately secured to thebowl and are otherwise not interconnected in any way except for theshaft and so do not cooperate with each other to reinforce the lowerwall of the bowl which supports the grid as well as the charcoal, nordoes one leg structure give stability to the other.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a novelthree-legged structure forming a rigid and torsionally stable platform,and employing two horizontal curved sections underlying the bowl andwhich are interconnected so as to give greater support for the workingsurface of the bowl and permitting the bowl to be made from lighterguage material than heretofore, which saves shipping costs. It may besaid, in fact, that the heavy guage material formerly used for makingthese bowls was not actually necessary to their useful life asfireboxes, but it was throught necessary to use thick sheet steel inorder to give stability to the leg structure.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel demountablethree-legged structure which can be packed for shipping in a squarecarton having dimensions not materially greater than the diameter of thebowl. By reducing the guage of the metal and therefore the weight of thebowl and by packaging the entire unit in a smaller carton, the apparatusis more favorably received by the retail units handling the grill, andthere is a considerable saving in shipping costs.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved legstructure wherein the three legs actually give greater stability thanthe four previously used. Of the inverted U-shaped legs previouslymentioned, two of the legs, one from each of the U-shaped members, wereinterconnected by the shaft at their lower ends which carried thewheels. The remaining two legs were not connected and became loose andwiggled. In the structure of the present invention these two latter legsare replaced by a single leg rigidly connected with the first two legssupporting the wheels, and the result is a more effective and stablesupport for the bowl which does not have to be levelled on a stoneterrace or other sometimes uneven surface.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a brazier type grid having thethree-legged supporting structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a slightly modified construction.

FIG. 4 is a broken perspective view showing a second modifiedconstruction.

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 1 shows the brazier with its bowl-shaped, cir- 3,005,611 PatentedOct. 24, 1961 cular firebox 10, a handle 11 at the front, a sleeve 12rigidly mounted at the center through which a post 13 passes, a grid 14being rigidly secured at the upper end of the post. The grill, which hasseparate handles 14, is adjustable as to height by turning a crank 15which is journalled in a box 16 secured to the lower wall of the bowl.All the foregoing is conventional and forms no part of the presentinvention.

Thelegstructure includes two similarly shaped but oppositely formed legstructures 20 and '21 formed preferably from tubular stock. Each leg hasa horizontal upper section 22 whose contour is slightly curved to fitthe contour of the spherical lower surface of the bowl. At its furtherend the latter section has a downwardly extending section 23 which, whenviewed from the front, is also inwardly curved at 24 and its terminal isflattened and formed into a semi-circular section 25 shown in FIG. 2.

The third leg 25 is a length of tubular material having a resilient cap27 at its lower end and bolts 30 passing through aligned holes in leg 26and curved terminal 25 secure the third leg to the other leg elements asshown in FIG. 2. By forming the legs with the downwardly inclinedsections 23 and the inwardly inclined sections 24 there is provided asuitable space between these oppositely formed sections for the box-likebearing 16 for the shaft of crank 15. The horizontal sections 22 of legs20 and 21 have holes (not shown) through which bolts extending throughthe base of the bowl pass.

These holes are shown at 30 in the modified construction of FIG. 3. Thetwo inverted L-shaped legs 31 and 32 in this instance have thehorizontal sections 33 shaped and curved to fit the contour of the bowl.The opposite ends of these sections have downwardly extending terminalsections 34 which, however, omit the curve 24 to the side shown inFIG. 1. This does not provide the space shown in FIG. 1 for the bearingfor the shaft and this arrangement is used for a slightly different typeof grill where the bearing 35 is positioned at one side of the frontwhere the third leg 36 is located. The flattened curved terminals 37 andthe securing bolts are the same as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 gives an excellent idea of the torsionally stable tripodstructure wherein the legs are tied together structurally andtorsionally to form a rigid platform on which the bowl is mounted.

The same general structure is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 except thatthe third leg 40 is formed integrally with leg 41 and the legs areinterconnected by horizontal section 42. The third leg has thehorizontal section 43 and the flattened arcuate terminal section 44secured by bolts 45 to leg 40. This type of structure may be used incases wherein it is not necessary to conserve space in the packaging andshipping of the item.

While there have been described herein what are at present consideredpreferred embodiments of the invention, it will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art that many modifications and changes may be madetherein without departing from the essence of the invention. It istherefore to be understood that the exemplary embodiments areillustrative and not restrictive of the invention, the scope of which isdefined in the appended claims, and that all modifications that comewithin the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intendedto be included therein.

What I claim is:

1. A tripod leg structure for supporting a brazier type of charcoalgrill having a bowl-shaped firebox, said structure including a pair ofsimilarly shaped but oppositely formed inverted, generally L-shapedtubular members whose vertical portions form spaced legs and whosehorizontal portions have an upwardly concave curvature, and

which are inclined toward each other to form a substantially V-shapedsupport, the outer ends of said latter" portions extending downwardlyand inwardly toward each other and the lower ends thereof being: shapedto form a semi-circular contour, and a third leg whose upper end isreceived and secured between said lower ends.

2. A tripod leg structure for supporting a hrazier type of charcoalgrill having a bowl-shaped firebox, said structure including a pair ofsimilarly shaped but oppositely formed inverted, generally L-shapedtubular members whose vertical portions form: spaced. legsv and whosehorizontal portions have an upwardly concave curvature, the outer endsof said latter portions extendingdownwardly and the lower ends thereof.being shaped to form a contour which is semi-circular in cross section,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSReinecke Nov. 24,, 1953 Armstrong -tt. July 17, 1934 Booth Feb. 26, 1952Alter Apr. 9, 1957 Leach Apr. 12, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS France Aug. 18',1954 Germany Sept. 22, 1955

